Procrastinating, Kingdom Saving, and all other forms of Geekdom

Southside Protector: Chapter 7

Daniel was stunned that one of his fellow Protectors was standing at the dragon’s side. He couldn’t show that, though. Instead, he said over his shoulder, “I guess we know how the dragon knew we were tracking it. Kennedy is a traitorous bitch.”

Kennedy laughed. “Your opinion is worthless, old man. It’s almost as worthless as you are. Your time is done. It’s time for us younger people to take control and do things our way. The first thing to go is the Protector program.”

Daniel ignored her and kept talking to the teammates at his side. “Anyone know why she’s crazy now?”

Kennedy screamed that she wasn’t crazy, but he tuned it out to listen to Nikki, who answered at the same time. “She’s upset because she wants to have kids with her boyfriend.”

“You were told before you joined the Protector program that you would never be able to conceive if you joined up. They didn’t hide that from you. So, now how many people are going to be hurt by you and your friend there all because you decided to change your mind.”

“Of course I changed my mind,” Kennedy raged. “I was only fifteen years old. That’s far too young to be making decisions affecting the rest of your life.”

“And your solution to this problem is to help a dragon hurt people? You can’t talk it over with the program?”

“What good would that do me? I’d still never be able to conceive.”

“Hurting people won’t let you conceive either, dumbass!”

“No, but it’ll make them feel just like I feel.”

“You’re a special kind of special, aren’t you?” Turning to Nikki, he said, “You take care of the dumb bitch. We’ll handle the dragon.”

“Who put you in charge?”

“We’re in Southside. My zone. My rules.”

“Fine. I’m always in the mood to smack a bitch anyway.”

“Do you think I’m stupid?” Kennedy laughed. “Why would I leave the safety that being close to the dragon brings?”

“Suit yourself,” Daniel shrugged. He reached back into the vehicle and pulled out a weapon. “The laser weapons were stinging your friend, but weren’t really hurting it as much as I wanted them to. So, I decided to pull out something a little old school, but packs a bigger punch. I hope you both enjoy it.”

“Is that…”

The rest of Kennedy’s words were lost after Daniel brought the weapon up over his shoulder, took a quick second to aim, and fired it. She leapt off the top of the building before even shouting a warning to the dragon. Not knowing the nature of the weapon, the dragon used its wings to shield itself. It soon howled in pain for that mistake.

An RPG was designed to punch holes in a car’s engine block, so it had no problem penetrating when it hit the dragon’s left wing. Not only was there a new hole in the dragon’s wing, but it was also pelted with shrapnel and the concussive force. Daniel knew that just one blast wasn’t going to take it down. As soon as he fired, Robbie was ready to load the next one in. Two taps on his shoulder told him that he was reloaded. He aimed at the dragon’s face and sent the next shot on the way.

Daniel hoped that the pain would keep the dragon distracted enough for the RPG to get through. It wasn’t. The dragon snaked its head to the side a second before the rocket propelled grenade hit it. “Shit,” he swore. He felt two more taps, but he didn’t think the next shot would hit. Not with the dragon focused on him. “Robbie,” he hollered. “Emmeline! Get his attention!”

Neither gave him a hard time, like he thought they would. Instead, they jumped into action. Robbie ran to his left, Emmeline to the right, with both of them firing furiously at the dragon. Unfortunately for Daniel, their laser weapons were not doing any more damage than they did the first time. The dragon reacted to the shots like a human would when getting bitten by a mosquito. It ignored them and kept its eyes on the bigger threat.

“Aim for its eyes,” he ordered.

In perfect harmony, the lines of laser fire raised up until they were hitting the dragon in the face. This time, it couldn’t ignore their shots. He heard a sharp intake of breath and knew exactly what was coming next. Daniel aimed for center mass and fired the RPG right as the flames were shooting out of the dragon’s mouth. Emmeline, the person the dragon tried to torch, jumped back from the fire. It didn’t come close to hitting her because the dragon had to dodge the RPG.

With an agility that shouldn’t be possible in something so big, the dragon managed to get its chest out of the way of Daniel’s shot. But, it didn’t get its tail out of the way. The RPG hit halfway up the dragon’s tail and exploded. It let loose an unearthly howl that threatened to cause Daniel to drop the launcher and cover his ears. He knew he couldn’t do that, though. Without Robbie behind him to load the launcher, that task fell to him.

He propped it up against the vehicle and grabbed the last of their RPGs out of the case. Daniel loaded it into the launcher and got it ready to fire. Before he could bring it to firing position, he was hit on his side by something strong. At first, he thought the dragon had swatted him. That wasn’t the case. Kennedy had tackled him.

The launcher fell from his grip as the two wrestled around on the street. Kennedy, the younger of the two, gained the early advantage because she maintained more of her serum enhanced strength. Daniel had the edge in experience, however, and was able to twist her into a position that neutralized her strength. Seeing her advantage slip away, she tried to use what many would consider a dirty tactic. She tried to grab ahold of his privates, and not in a good way.

Daniel headbutted her square in the nose, causing blood to spatter everywhere. “I always wear a cup,” he said, explaining how her tactic failed. “Where’s Nikki?”

Her eyes were glassy for a moment, but she regained her senses quickly. “She’s over there,” Kennedy said as she pointed towards the base of the parking garage. “In fact, she’s probably breathing her last breath as we speak.”